Latest language perversions à la "could care less" or figurative-literal

[Britva415]

Along the lines of the "figurative literal," this thread is for perversions of language which happen when people start forgetting whether what they say matches what they mean.

"My head literally exploded." No it didn't but we see this everywhere now.

"I could care less." So... You do care some?

The latest which I've only started seeing within (I feel like) the past year but has seemed to explode into common/frequent usage is "as much" - without including "as possible."

"You want as many people there, to really have a great party!" As many as what?

When and why did people start simply dropping the "as possible?" I can understand a simple hurried mistake here and there, but it's weird, I feel like I never saw this before but now I see it a couple of times a week.

Weird.

What are some other examples?

 

[EmilyMiller]

Language is fluid, like a twisting meandering river, bifurcating and bifurcating again to form a wide delta. You can’t hold back the water with your hands and there are too many rivulets to dam them all.

Em

 

[HordHolm]

Language is fluid, like a twisting meandering river, bifurcating and bifurcating again to form a wide delta. You can’t hold back the water with your hands and there are too many rivulets to dam them all.

Em

This is true. But when I encounter the word 'normalcy' I die a little...

 

[EmilyMiller]

This is true. But when I encounter the word 'normalcy' I die a little...

Every single word we use today will have had some different spelling and / or pronunciation in the past.

Em

 

[Euphony]

Language is fluid, like a twisting meandering river, bifurcating and bifurcating again to form a wide delta. You can’t hold back the water with your hands and there are too many rivulets to dam them all.

Em

Hold my ̶b̶e̶e̶r̶ rock.

 

[Bamagan]

Language is fluid, like a twisting meandering river, bifurcating and bifurcating again to form a wide delta. You can’t hold back the water with your hands and there are too many rivulets to dam them all.

Em

I think it's more like a gel. It holds its shape for a while, but it's definitely highly malleable.

 

[HordHolm]

Every single word we use today will have had some different spelling and / or pronunciation in the past.

Em

Most words we use came from a different language. In the end it's all creative destruction. I still hate 'normalcy' though, and with a passion.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Most words we use came from a different language. In the end it's all creative destruction. I still hate 'normalcy' though, and with a passion.

Some words can be triggering. And - despite the general point I am trying to make - there is no excuse for the abomination that is irregardless.

Em

 

[HordHolm]

Some words can be triggering. And - despite the general point I am trying to make - there is no excuse for the abomination that is irregardless.

Em

Yep, 'irregardless' has a special quality of dumb.

 

[Britva415]

'irregardless' has a special quality of dumb.

Thank you for providing an actual example.

 

[Britva415]

Language is fluid, like a twisting meandering river, bifurcating and bifurcating again to form a wide delta. You can’t hold back the water with your hands and there are too many rivulets to dam them all.

Em

I still get to make fun of it when it's happening in real time in front of me, perpetrated by people who are careless, lazy or ignorant.

Language shifts don't always happen as the result of objective mis-use.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Thank you for providing an actual example.

I think that was me, hun.

You’re welcome.

Em

 

[EmilyMiller]

I still get to make fun of it when it's happening in real time in front of me, perpetrated by people who are careless, lazy or ignorant.

That’s most of humanity - in any age - that you are describing.

Em

 

[MillieDynamite]

I couldn't care less! Just saying I don't care.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I couldn't care less! Just saying I don't care.

The quantum of fucks that I give asymptotically approaches a minimum .

Em

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

To really have a great party, you want as many people there!" As many as what?

Tbh I haven't seen this as much.

 

[alohadave]

"My head literally exploded." No it didn't but we see this everywhere now.

This usage is literally centuries old at this point. It's not a new meaning.

 

[HordHolm]

Language shifts don't always happen as the result of objective mis-use.

I would argue that it is very hard to either prove or disprove that statement. Most shifts that have occurred have been very poorly documented. For example the major shifts in English - the huge grammatical changes that changed Old English to Middle English, for example, or the great vowel shift. The probability is, though, that these changes came from casual usage on the 'street' (or the stinking horse shit riddled open sewer that passed for a 'street' in late medieval England), which suggests it came from misuse rather than something 'planned'. Technology brought other changes - for example, most punctuation was developed by printers who decided that various 'marks' were required once written material was being more widely disseminated. One change that we might view as being 'planned', or at least was adopted not as 'misuse' per se, was the change in spelling in British English to colour, neighbour, etc in the mid/late 19th century as a means of trying to appear more 'French' and therefore more 'sophisticated'. As it was the middle class making this change we might consider it less an error, and more something intentional. Of course , that might just be a classist interpretation (cuz 'ow cud dem edjewkated peepel mek a mistek?)

 

[onehitwanda]

Language is fluid, like a twisting meandering river, bifurcating and bifurcating again to form a wide delta. You can’t hold back the water with your hands and there are too many rivulets to dam them all.

Em

 

[Britva415]

The quantum of fucks that I give asymptotically approaches a minimum .

Em

Heh.

See?

Still non-zero!

 

[Britva415]

This usage is literally centuries old at this point. It's not a new meaning.

It's still perverse!

 

[HordHolm]

My dad was a right little bloody pedant...

Person: Could you open the window?
My dad: Yes, I suppose I could...

 

[MillieDynamite]

Yes, most people believe can you and will you mean the same thing. They don't, one is about ability, and the other is about willingness.

My dad was a right little bloody pedant...

Person: Could you open the window?
My dad: Yes, I suppose I could...

 

[HordHolm]

Yes, most people believe can you and will you mean the same thing. They don't, one is about ability, and the other is about willingness.

He'd have his pedantic answer to 'will' as well...

Person: Will you open the window?
My dad: Yes, I'm sure I will at some point...

He, of course, smugly interpreting 'will' as purely future intention.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Heh.

See?

Still non-zero!

Infinitesimally greater than zero